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On February 12, Troop 202 took a tour of the Asian Art Museum in San Francisco. Mr. Kelly, our Scoutmaster, was also our tour guide. He showed us the Chinese modern art exhibit.

The first part of the tour was in front of the museum. It was a big red dinosaur which represents China's growing economy. The next pieces were inside the building. These were a huge cast aluminium Chairman Mao jacket, and two Michelangelo statue replicas wearing Mao jackets.

The most amazing part of the exhibit was the "Sleep of Reason". The exhibit was a big table like thing with a statue of a sleeping Mao on the center of it. Surrounding Mao were thousands of little plastic toy dinosaurs of all different sizes, colors, and types. The dinos were sorted by type and color into different groups and made a sort of wavy pattern of colors which turned out to be an abstract map of Asia. It was really something to see.

After the tour, we ate lunch in the museum cafeteria which was Asian themed. I had a barbecue pork sandwich and it was very tasty. Others had soups and curry chicken. After lunch, we could walk around the museum some more if we wanted to. Other exhibits were ancient Asian artwork and objects. Everyone thought the outing was a great trip. --- Evan V.

On January 22, 2005, Troop 202 gathered at the Emeryville Amtrak station and got ready to board the Capitol Corridor train. Originally, the trip was to go all the way to Reno Nevada for an overnight stay in Reno and return home the next day. Heavy snows caused a cancellation of the passenger train service over the Sierra Nevada mountains, so the trip was changed to one day in Sacramento.

We spent most of the ride on the train talking, playing cards, drinking sodas we purchased at the dining car, or just looking out the window. It took two hours to get to Sacramento and the same time on the way back. When we got to Sacramento we walked over to the train museum.

At the museum we mostly worked on the Railroading merit badge. There were trains of all different shapes and sizes and there were many fun exhibits, like the model trains. We also watched a movie on trains in the museum theater. After that, we headed into old Sacramento to find lunch.

After lunch, we got back on the westbound train and headed home. --- Evan V.

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On the weekend of November 13 & 14, Troop 202 went to Los Mochos campground. This was after a morning of Food Drive collection bag dropoff with Pack 202. At Los Mochos, each patrol competed against each other in building a fire, first aid, and lashings (tying two poles together) to see who was the best in the troop. After those activities the Troop mostly hung out until dinner time. We had Shepard's Pie made in Dutch ovens. It was delicious. After dinner the troop played Command vs Chaos and Zorch.

The next morning the troop packed up and got ready to leave. Some of the younger scouts went on a hike while the rest of us played football. Before we left, we helped some workers move wood and metal to their workplace. Everyone thought the outing was a great camping trip. --- Evan V.

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The troop hiked up to Sunol campground. Tarantulas posed a problem to those who didn't know that the spiders are not poisonous to humans. An average number of the scouts polled said the hike was medium in difficulty. When we got to the campground we found a great climbing tree which was shaped like a "W". The troop had linguini for dinner. It was cooked by Forrest and our newest scout, Jose. There was terrific weather, warm and dry enough for some scouts to sleep under the stars. While we were in camp the newer scouts learned some scouting skills. All in all it was a great outing. --- Evan V.

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Troop 202 came home after a very successful canoe trip on the Russian river. We first went up to the campground on Friday, September 17, after school. We set up and hit the sack around 9 or 10 o'clock. The next morning we had a cold breakfast and then walked down to the river. We also had a new member in the troop named Derek B. who was fresh out of cub scouts. This was his first scout outing with us.

The Russian river isn't terribly fast but we went through some challenging currents that ran our canoes on shore or tried to suck us underwater. Other obstacles like rocks and branches of fallen trees posed a threat as well. The river happens to be quite low this time of year so we had to get out and push our canoes to deeper water on several occasions.

But rapids, rocks, and branches were not the only challenges on the water. Pirate attacks were very common along the river. Many scouts duked it out with one another in broadside battles on the water. Sometimes canoes collided and capsized one of the participants canoes, turning the tide of the battle.

Finally after 15 miles of paddling (almost) everyone in the troop made it back safely to camp. On Sunday morning we packed up and headed home. --- Evan V.

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